Carbon Leaf Countdown #4: The War Was In Color
Feb 16
After hearing this, you’ll want to find the nearest veteran and give him the biggest and proudest salute of all time. At #4, it’s “The War Was Color!”
I think I’ve made my feelings on Love Loss Hope Repeat be known. I’m really not trying to be negative, but I would consider it to be one of my least favorite Carbon Leaf albums. However, the album does hold something for me. In my opinion, Love Loss Hope Repeat holds the best written Carbon Leaf song ever written on it: “The War Was In Color.” I think the songs that ended up ahead of this song are all top-level, excellent songs, but really, “The War Was In Color” is a career masterpiece that most bands never achieve. It’s like “One” was for U2 almost except that this song really blows that one on all front. Not even Carbon Leaf, this might be one of the top ten best songs of the 2000s and if the band was on the radar of any publication, I think they would back me up on this very strongly.
“Man, you feel very strong about this.” Damn right and it’s not just because I have a lot of friends in military. This song is just so beautiful written. The lyrics & music behind it were crafted so perfectly that it’s a living tribute to anyone who ever put on a uniform. It’s a cautionary tale, but not in the political sense. It is blunt and honest: this was and still is war. It even gives you the why for most people. It gives you the gritty details you see in movies and marvel at, but never really think about the real life implications for. It haunts, it lectures, it illuminates, and it resonates. There’s no one thing greater than the rest in the song either. The repetitive guitar chord gives the illusion of a solider marching, the lyrics tell a story perfectly from the eyes of a man who’s seen far too much, the electric guitar really enunciates the importance of the message, and the total package is staggering. Seriously: one of the best songs ever written here. I don’t care if you disagree either. I’d say you were just wrong, but the narrator here would just say that’s your right. He earned it for you.
Song: The War Was In Color
Album: Love Loss Hope Repeat
Year: 2006
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Feb 29, 2012 @ 00:53:32
I agree. Though I would point out that the tune is not entirely without a political edge. I suspect it was written in part to remind a certain administration that seemed all too blase about committing an act of war that there would be consequences. Particularly if the outcome could not be seen as living up to the last line in the narrative. At the exact same time that final line also supplies the best answer to the quintessential ’60s era question: “War: What is it good for?” The resulting honest look at, and deserved chiding of, both sides of the political fence gives this tune its power.